Biblical Church by Beresford Job - 4 stars

Every now and then a book comes along that challenges the foundations of accepted Christian practice and offers something completely new. Biblical Church: a Challenge to Unscriptural Tradition and Practice! by Beresford Job does exactly that. It strips away traditions that man has added to the concept of Christian practice and points back to the original blueprint found in Scripture. 

 

Biblical Church: a Challenge to Unscriptural Tradition and Practice!

This book challenged me to reconsider my understanding of the New Testament teaching on church life and practice. It combines meticulously researched scholarship and exegesis with Job's more than thirty years of practical experience pioneering New Testament church life and practice. It's a journey of discovery to regain lost biblical truths and understandings.

This book is an easy read, a little wordy for me, but well worth the read. It pinpoints traditions and practices that are un-scriptural in a thought-provoking way that completely revolutionizes the teaching of Scripture. Questions covered include:

• What was the conflict between Jesus and Israel really about?

• What is ‘the Tradition of the Elders’?

• Why is it that for 1800 years churches have been so completely different to those we see in the New Testament?

• What were the New Testament churches actually like?

• Does the New Testament teach and prescribe a particular way for churches to be?

• Why did the Early Church Fathers reverse the teaching of the New Testament about church life?

• What do leading evangelical scholars have to say concerning these issues?

For three decades Beresford Job, has been involved on both sides of the Atlantic in helping to start and nurture churches which are based purely on the teachings and practices revealed in the New Testament. He argues powerfully that what history has come to refer to as the Reformation is not yet complete, and that the restoration of biblical truth regarding justification by faith needs to now be followed by a similar restoration concerning the way in which church life is experienced.

As this books turns to the New Testament church it argues that there are four simple things that differentiate biblically based churches that align with scripture rather than mere human tradition:

1) Each New Testament church was numerically small and therefore needed nothing other than homes to meet in. The idea was to have as many small churches as possible in any given geographical area rather than fewer numerically large ones.

2) When a church met for its weekly Sunday gathering the format was strictly that everyone was free to take part as the Spirit led them. All present were used by the Lord in different ways to edify their brothers and sisters and each person was seen to have a unique contribution to make. Unbelievable though it may seem to the vast majority of Christians there is no such thing in the New Testament as a church ‘service.’ Further, because of this format and design passed on by the Lord to the Apostles, there was also no need for anyone to lead the proceedings from the front. Indeed, in a lounge or living room in someone’s home there is no ‘front’ to lead from. Equally unbelievable is that neither is there any such thing in the New Testament as ‘the Minister’ of a church.

3) The other aspect of their weekly Sunday gatherings was that the Lord’s Supper was an actual meal which those present ate together, the loaf and cup being shared together as part of it. Basically a church was seen as an extended family of the Lord’s people, and the New Testament format for church gatherings was such that those present could actually function as such. Here believers experienced spiritual intimacy, close, genuine and significant fellowship, and the freedom to truly gather together around the Lord to celebrate his presence in their midst.

4) When it came to church government the New Testament clearly shows that decisions were made collectively by all in the church with leaders, referred to as elders, shepherds or overseers, being merely part of the decision-making process rather than the process itself. Further, this function of local church leadership was undertaken by brothers raised up from within, and recognized by, the church of which they were a part. Itinerant ministries from outside of each church augmented such local leaders church.

However strange the above description of church life may appear no serious Biblical scholar would disagree with the simple proposition that it is simply, and quite unarguably, what churches in New Testament times were like while the teachings of the Apostles of Jesus held sway. Quote after quote from top evangelical scholars confirm that the burden of the book is fully aligned with Scripture, and all necessary textual, cultural and historical relevancy are dealt with in detail in its pages.

The only thing I didn't enjoy about this book is, like I said, it is a bit wordy. For this reason I gave it 4 stars. I recommend this book to Christians who enjoy church history, for people who love the Lord but have walked away from church (for various reasons), and for those who seek to walk in the Light of truth. I think people will be amazed at what they discover.

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